After a two-day rally, Indian equity markets lost momentum today and closed in red on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds and weak global cues. While, BSE Sensex closed the trading session down by 98 points NSE-Nifty finished 31 points lower. The BSE Small Cap too closed in negative (down 0.4%). However, BSE Mid Cap bucked this trend and closed the day up by 0.7%. Only capital goods and auto sectors managed to close in the green while consumer durables and metal stocks witnessed majority of the selling activity.
Asian stock markets finished sharply lower today with shares in Hong Kong leading the region. The Hang Seng is down 2.68% while Japan's Nikkei 225 is off 2.51% and China's Shanghai Composite is lower by 1.39%. European markets are lower today with shares in London off the most. The FTSE 100 is down 0.66% while Germany's DAX is off 0.50% and France's CAC 40 is lower by 0.33%. The rupee depreciated 21 paise to 66.62 against the US$.
According to a leading financial daily, Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is expecting Rs 30 bn worth infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka as the company seeks to expand its global presence. The projects are likely to be materialized during the fourth quarter of this fiscal. The company is also expecting a 15% growth in order inflow as the current order book of the company stands around Rs 2,390 bn. The company already has its presence in West Asia and also made a foray into the African markets and is reportedly looking at some other countries for expansion. Moreover, the company has 17 road projects in its pipeline. The scrip of L&T ended the trading day on an encouraging note (up 1.8%) on the BSE.
Power stocks ended the trading day with modest losses with Thermax Ltd and NHPC witnessing majority of the selling activity. According to a leading economic daily, India's largest electricity company NTPC may take over Damodar Valley Corporation's (DVC) Raghunathpur thermal power station, in Purulia district of West Bengal, in December. DVC is the largest thermal power utility in eastern India with a total capacity of 6,237 MW. DVC is scheduled to declare commerciality of 2x600 MW Raghunathpur phase-I in December and reportedly NTPC will take over the unit immediately after. Construction of the 1200 MW power plant is over. DVC has also awarded the turnkey contract for the 2x660 MW second phase of the project.
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